Developer Configuration Management SA-10
System and Services Acquisition · Moderate baseline ✗ Not implemented
Status — program-wide
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Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5, System and Services Acquisition family NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5. The baseline shows the lowest SP 800-53B baseline (Low / Moderate / High) this control appears in NIST SP 800-53B.
Control guide — plain-English, per NIST SP 800-53
SA-10 (Developer Configuration Management) asks whoever builds a system — including you, when you write the scripts and configs that stand this server up — to manage changes on purpose. That means controlling the integrity of what changes, applying only approved changes, recording each change and its security impact, and tracking flaws through to a fix. Here, ‘configuration management’ is the discipline of versioning and controlling changes, not a single tool. It enters at the Moderate baseline.
What good looks like
- Keep the server's build and config artifacts — scripts,
/etcfiles, playbooks — under version control (for example, Git) so every change has an author, a date, and a reason. - Apply only reviewed, approved changes — no ad-hoc edits made straight on the live box with no record.
- Protect integrity — tag releases, and verify package and file integrity (checksums or signatures) before deploying.
- Write down the security impact of a change when it touches access, network exposure, or a running service.
- Track flaws to closure — keep an open issue for each known bug or vulnerability, linked to the commit that fixes it.
Framework mapping
- NIST CSF 2.0 — PR.PS-06 — Secure software development practices are integrated and monitored throughout the software development life cycle
- CIS Controls v8 — Control 4 — Secure Configuration of Enterprise Assets and Software
How to move it toward Implemented
- Put the config under version control — run
git initin the config directory, or track/etcwithetckeeper— and commit a clear message for each change. - Require a second look before merging — even a solo lab can use a branch and a pull request so the change and its reason are recorded.
- Verify integrity on deploy — check signatures with
gpgor compare asha256sumagainst the published value, tag the release, and keep an issue for each flaw linked to its fixing commit. - Attach the change history (
git log) and the flaw list as hardening evidence on the asset, namingSA-10in the Requirement field — that moves it from ‘To assess’ toward ‘Completed’.